Libertarian Reform Caucus-planks
: Source: http://www.reformthelp.org/platform/rights/p3.php and harvested on June 4, 2006 =Individual Rights= Full Libertarian Reform Caucus Platform - Version 1.0 :Here is my first draft of a complete platform for the LRC. It is a compilation of the most popular planks on our site, with minor changes, editions, additions and subtractions, as well as some popular proposals in the current platform, as well as new proposals written mostly or entirely by myself for important planks where there were no popular proposals (including immigration, foreign policy, military and environment planks.) Comments on proposals were factored into the versions here. by Nick Wilson, Posted May 29, 2006 I LIKE CHOCOLATE MILK As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty; a world in which all individuals are free to determine their own peaceable ways of living, and in which no government, organization or individual has the right to intrude upon the rights and freedoms of any law-abiding individual. We believe that respect for individual rights is the essential precondition for a free and prosperous world, and that only through freedom can peace and prosperity be realized. The world we seek to build is one where individuals are free to follow their own dreams in their own ways, without interference from government or any authoritarian power. Reciprocally, rights come with responsibilities. We call upon all individuals who exercise their rights and freedoms to accept full responsibility for their actions. No individual, organization or government may violate the life, liberty or property of any law-abiding individual or group, and we call for the immediate reform or end to all government policies and programs which have consistently violated these rights. In the following pages we have set forth our basic principles and enumerated various policy stands derived from those principles. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Individual Rights and Civil Order a. Freedom and Responsibility b. Crime c. The War on Drugs d. Rights of the Accused e. Private Property f. Privacy g. Gun Rights h. National Service and the Draft i. Immigration j. Civil Rights k. Abortion and Women's Rights l. Sexual Rights II. Economic Issues a. Trade and the Economy b. Taxation c. Government Waste, Spending and National Debt d. Labor e. Consumer Protection III. Domestic Issues a. Energy b. The Environment c. Education d. Health Care e. Social Security f. Election Reform g. Congressional Pay and Term Limits h. Sovereign Immunity IV.Foreign Affairs a. Military Policy b. Presidential War Powers c. World Government d. Foreign Aid V. Omissions SECTION I. INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND CIVIL ORDER A.) FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY Issues: Personal responsibility is discouraged by government denying individuals the opportunity to exercise it. In fact, the denial of freedom fosters irresponsibility. Through many laws and regulations, the government claims to know better than the individual how to run that person's life. Principles: We believe a free society is one where people are free to make and learn from their own decisions. Individuals should be free to make choices for themselves and to accept responsibility for the consequences of the choices they make. We must accept the right of others to choose for themselves if we are to have the same right. Our support of an individual's right to make choices in life does not mean that we necessarily approve or disapprove of those choices. We believe people must accept personal responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Solutions: We support: 1. Repealing condescending laws that take away individual choice. Rational, law-abiding adults should be free to make their own legal decisions regarding themselves. (However, for those who are under the legal guardianship of another, such as children and the mentally handicapped or insane, such decisions must be made by the guardians. In the event that the guardian does not have the dependent�s best interests at heart, the issue requires settlement through the legal system.) 2. Repealing government programs and laws that reward irresponsibility and reduce or eliminate accountability for one�s actions. 3. Holding responsible those whose actions violate the freedoms of others—through law enforcement and a fair judicial branch. 4. Encouraging private sector dissemination of information to help consumers make informed decisions on products and services and enforcing laws against fraud and misrepresentation. B.) CRIME Issues: Government exists to protect the life, liberty and property of every individual. It must have sufficient power to do this. Yet government often goes beyond this and makes voluntary, consensual and victimless acts illegal. Such laws turn otherwise peaceful citizens into enemies of the state and create violence-prone black markets. The enforcement of laws against victimless crimes wastes time and resources better used to defend individuals from murder, assault, and theft. Principles: Government has a duty to protect the rights and freedom of its citizens. Any law which works against this purpose should be repealed. Solutions: We support: 1. Consistent, impartial and strong enforcement of laws that protect individual rights. 2. Incremental deregulation of victimless crimes on the state and local level, and immediate deregulation on the federal level, enabling states to act freely of federal dictates. As the gradual legalization of victimless acts is carried out and the results monitored, the next reasonable course of action can be decided depending on the effect of the results. C.) THE WAR ON DRUGS Issues: The suffering that drug abuse has brought about is deplorable; however, in many ways, drug prohibition causes more harm than drugs themselves. The so-called "War on Drugs" targets the American people, our Constitution and the Bill of Rights, while it serves to fuel an ever growing black market, perpetuate a dangerous culture in pursuit of forbidden fruit and reduce options for treatment for those who wish to escape the cycle of abuse. Many users die when those around them do not get them immediate medical assistance because they do not want to get in trouble with the law. The War on Drugs poses a grave threat to individual liberty, to domestic order and to world peace. Principles: People struggling with drug abuse should not be made out to be "criminals", unless they commit a crime against another individual. If the "War on Drugs" is ended, the often violent black market in drugs will also end. Prison is not an acceptable method of dealing with drug abuse. In fact it often fosters the problem. Solutions: We support: 1. The end to the "War on Drugs," in order to address the issue of drug abuse; 2. The legalization of hemp, as it is purely an industrial crop having no drug related applications; 3. The legalization of medical marijuana. 4. The right of state legislatures and courts, without federal interference, to determine the legality of marijuana for non-medicinal use; 5. Ending the use of federal highway money to strong-arm states into passing drug and alcohol regulations; 6. Handling individuals dealing drugs and abusing hard drugs through "drug courts" rather than criminal courts; an end to the use of "anti-crime" measures, such as profiling or civil asset forfeiture, that reduce the standard of proof historically borne by government in prosecutions; 7. An end to laws that infringe upon individual rights to be secure in our persons, homes, and property as protected by the Fourth Amendment. D.) RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED Issues: Instant-punishment policies deprive the accused of important checks on government power—juries and the judicial process. Principles: Until such time as persons are proven guilty of crimes, they should be accorded full respect for their individual rights. We oppose any concept that some individuals are by nature second-class citizens who only understand instant punishment and any claim that the police possess special insight into recognizing persons in need of punishment. We oppose reduction of constitutional safeguards of the rights of the criminally accused. Solutions: We support: 1. Ending government seizure of property for criminal offenses prior to civil or criminal proceedings. Full restitution must be made for all loss suffered by persons arrested, indicted, tried, imprisoned, or otherwise injured in the course of criminal proceedings against them that do not result in their conviction. When they are responsible, government police employees or agents must be liable for this restitution. 2. Prohibiting police officers from using excessive force on the criminally accused, handing out what they may consider to be instant punishments on the streets, or using preventive detention and no-knock laws. 3. Reforming the judicial system to allow criminal defendants and civil parties to a court action a reasonable number of preemptory challenges to proposed judges, similar to their right under the present system to challenge a proposed juror. E.) PRIVATE PROPERTY Issues: We strongly support the right to private property, liberty of contract, and freedom of trade, and so condemn government interference in the peaceful and responsible use of property -- including efforts by government to enforce moral or aesthetic values, promote or restrict economic growth, or otherwise interfere in the functioning of the market. We also support holding criminals, polluters and the government liable for actions that damage the property of others. Furthermore, we oppose the current use of eminent domain for endeavors that do not have a public and necessary use. Principles: All human rights depend on property rights. Freedom from involuntary servitude, freedom of speech, and the right to privacy � to name only a few � exist because our bodies are our own property just as our land or material objects are. The owners of property have the full right to use and control their property without interference, so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others. Solutions: We support: 1. Limiting property taxes to the level truly required to pay for services necessary to landowners. 2. Limiting government seizure of private land. Where property has been taken from its rightful owners by the government in violation of individual rights, we favor full restitution to the rightful owners. As eminent domain should be only rarely exercised for necessary public goods like roads, we support laws that prevent land from being seized for private use and business interests. 3. Legal protection of one�s property and just compensation for damages caused by polluters and criminals. F.) PRIVACY Issues: Privacy protections have been eroded gradually over many years. The Social Security Number has become a universal ID number, causing rampant and massive identity theft. Government routinely keeps records on the bank accounts, travel plans, and spending habits of law-abiding civilians, for no other reason than they "might" commit a crime in the future. Principles: The individual's right to privacy, property, and right to speak or not to speak should not be infringed by the government. Correspondence, bank and other financial transactions and records, doctors' and lawyers' communications, employment records, and the like should not be open to review by government, except in the case of criminal investigations with search warrants. Private contractual arrangements, including labor contracts, must be founded on mutual consent and agreement in a society that upholds freedom of association. On the other hand, we oppose any use of indiscriminate screening without just cause by the government or its contractors. Solutions: We support: 1. The protections provided by the Fourth Amendment. We oppose any government use of search warrants to examine or seize materials belonging to innocent third parties. We also oppose police roadblocks aimed at randomly, and without probable cause, testing drivers for intoxication and police practices to stop mass transit vehicles and search passengers without probable cause. 2. Ending all restrictions and regulations on the private development, sale, and use of encryption technology. We specifically oppose any requirement for disclosure of encryption methods or keys, including the government's proposals for so-called "key escrow" which is truly government access to keys, and any requirement for use of government-specified devices or protocols. 3. Ending government classification of civilian research on encryption methods. If a private employer screens prospective or current employees via questionnaires, polygraph tests, urine tests for drugs, blood tests for AIDS, or other means, this is a condition of that employer's labor contracts. Such screening does not violate the rights of employees, who have the right to boycott such employers if they choose. 4. Avoiding the implementation of a national identity card. 5. Ending the nearly universal requirement for use of the Social Security Number as a personal identification code, whether by government agencies or by intimidation of private companies by governments. 6. Eliminating intrusive mandatory disclosure of information by private citizens, organizations and companies to the government when no warrant has been issued and no criminal charges have been brought (for example, Google�s Congressional testimony over the decision to comply with China�s censorship laws.) G.) GUN RIGHTS Issues: Governments at all levels often violate their citizens' right of self defense with laws that restrict, limit or outright prohibit the ownership and use of firearms and other weapons. These laws are often justified by the mistaken premise that they will lead to a reduction in the level of violence in our society. Gun control laws create an environment where criminals have access to guns through the black market, while law abiding citizens are left defenseless. Principles: Our Founding Fathers took it for granted that self-defense is the foundation of all freedom. All rights protected by the Constitution to "the people" are individual rights, including the right to keep and bear arms. Law abiding citizens must be free to bear firearms and other weapons of self-defense in whatever manner they see fit. Use of these weapons in defense of life or property must never be a crime. A government which does not waste resources on enforcing unnecessary weapons prohibitions may instead use these resources to protect citizens from those who violate the rights of others. Solutions: We support: 1. Upholding the Second Amendment through the repeal of all gun control legislation that prevents law abiding citizens from the means of self-protection, as well as all restrictions on other personal weapons such as pepper spray, knives and swords, staves and clubs, etc. 2. Laws that ban the private use and ownership of primarily offensive weapons such as bombs, deadly chemical weapons and military devices such as missile launchers and nuclear weapons. 3. The revocation of arms rights from those who are convicted of commission or the involvement with the commission of violent crimes. H.) NATIONAL SERVICE AND THE DRAFT Issues: Through the Selective Service System the government maintains the ability to enact laws compelling involuntary armed service. Principles: With the exception of criminal penalties, we oppose any form of involuntary servitude including military conscription, youth labor programs, "national service," and other kinds of coerced social programs. History has proven that voluntary service meets the demand in times of emergency. Solutions: We support: 1. An immediate end to the Selective Service System and a ban on compulsory military registration and conscription. 2. The immediate and unconditional exoneration of all who have been accused or convicted of draft evasion 3. Sufficient compensation for willing members of the armed services, in order to maintain an all-volunteer army of necessary size 4. Ending all other government programs that require mandatory participation for non-criminals. I.) IMMIGRATION Issues: Illegal immigration has created many problems for the United States, including major strain on public schools and resources. Immigration is also a security issue, as open borders would leave the US susceptible to easy entry by criminals and terrorists. However, the political reality is that our immigration policy makes it difficult for foreigners to immigrate legally and eventually attain citizenship. Also, the economic reality is that the United States economy has become dependent upon the millions of migrant workers who are employed throughout various sectors. Principles: The US has a long and rich history of immigration. A streamlined legal immigration process and guest worker program would greatly reduce illegal immigration. Strong border security on both international borders can prevent terrorists and criminals from entering the US illegally. A limited guest worker program should be implemented for illegal immigrants with otherwise clean criminal records. Solutions: We support: 1. Streamlining the immigration process to enable guest workers a legal and more practical means of immigration and a legal path to citizenship. 2. Reducing the welfare state. Only citizens and legal, tax-paying residents (including legal immigrants) should have access to tax-funded government welfare programs, including public schools and healthcare. 3. Strengthening border security, to prevent criminals and terrorists, who would not be permitted to enter through legal checkpoints, from entering illegally. 4. Implementing a reasonable guest worker program. Illegal immigrants who have remained otherwise law-abiding should be allowed a one-year period to sign up for a guest worker program and join the track to citizenship. After the period is over, all remaining illegal immigrants would be immediately subject to deportation. J.) CIVIL RIGHTS Issues: Discrimination imposed or compelled by government is a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and has caused a multitude of problems. Principle: No individual should be denied, abridged or granted preference by laws at any level of government based upon sex, wealth, race, color, creed, age, national origin, personal habits, political preference or sexual orientation. Solutions: We support immediately repealing any and all laws imposing discrimination either by government or by compelling any individual or organization to discriminate against and/or grant preferential treatment toward any group of people. K.) ABORTION AND WOMEN�S RIGHTS Issues: Due to the continuing disagreement as to when a human life and the right to life begin, there has been much hostility and division among people, including Libertarians, on opposing sides of this issue. Principles: Individual rights should not be denied or abridged on the basis of sex, age, dependency, or location. Taxpayers should not be forced to pay for other people's abortions, nor should any government or individual force a woman to have an abortion. It is the right and obligation of the pregnant woman, not the state, to decide the desirability or appropriateness of prenatal testing, Caesarean births, fetal surgery, voluntary surrogacy arrangements, and/or home births. Recognizing that abortion is a very sensitive issue, and people can hold good-faith views on both sides, we therefore take no official position concerning to what extent abortion should be regulated by law and leave the question to each of its members and candidates � and their consciences � to determine their own positions. Solutions: We support: 1. Abolishing state-funded and state-mandated abortions; 2. Repealing all laws that discriminate against women, such as protective labor laws and marriage or divorce laws which deny the full rights of men and women. 3. Repealing any amendments to the Constitution or any other federal legislation that takes the issue of abortion out of the hands of the states and the people. L.) SEXUAL RIGHTS Issues: Government has presumed to decide acceptability over sexual practices in personal relationships, imposing a particular code of moral and social values and displacing personal choice in such matters. Principle: Adults have the right to private choice in consensual sexual activity. Solutions: We support: 1. Ending all government attempts to dictate, prohibit, control or encourage any private lifestyle, living arrangement or contractual relationship. 2. Strong police and judicial action to stop and/or punish rape, sexual slavery, child abuse and all forms of sexual abuse and coercion. SECTION II. ECONOMIC ISSUES A.) TRADE AND THE ECONOMY Issues: Barriers to economic opportunity created by government and special interests weaken access to employment, charity and ownership for every American. Principles: The proper role of government in the economic realm is protecting property rights, adjudicating disputes, enforcing contracts, providing a legal framework in which voluntary trade and labor are preserved, and establishing and enforcing strict laws against misrepresentation, exploitation or fraudulent business practices. Solutions: We support: 1. Cutting taxes and government spending; 2. A constitutional amendment demanding an annually balanced national budget; 3. Strengthening U.S. currency by ending inflationary monetary policies; 4. Protecting free trade and the free market by reducing or ending the use of tariffs, subsidies, quotas and embargoes, while avoiding or withdrawing from trade agreements that favor special interests and advance policies of state corporatism, like CAFTA, NAFTA and the FTAA; 5. Reducing onerous regulation and licensing practices that discourage self-employment and small business, which limits competition and favors big business. B.) TAXATION Issues: Taxes are too many, too complicated, too burdensome, and too high. The income tax violates the individual's right to privacy and taxes the fruits of labor, creating artificially inflated prices and reducing savings and investment. Principles: The tax code should be simple, clean, efficient and minimal, providing for the basic provision of necessary government services. Tax collection should not involve an invasion of individual privacy. Taxing people and using the money for government funding for special interest groups is theft. Solutions: We support: 1. The phase-out and abolishment of all personal and corporate income taxation, including capital gains taxes; 2. The repeal of he 16th Amendment; 3. The review of all cases where individuals have been convicted of, or who now stand accused of, tax resistance. 4. Cutting excessive government to reduce the overall tax revenue needed, and offsetting these cuts with lower overall taxes. 5. A fairer, less intrusive replacement to the income tax, such as the FairTax, to offset the income needed to fund necessary government services and provide basic protections. 6. Consumption and pollution taxes which cover the real and social costs of use, so such costs are equitably distributed on the users instead of on all taxpayers later. One example would be a carbon tax. C.) GOVERNMENT WASTE, SPENDING AND NATIONAL DEBT Issues: The government improperly manages the money of taxpayers. The government wastes money and is a poor steward of American money. Spending is out of control. The national debt causes Americans to involuntarily assume debt and hinders the economy. This sinkhole of taxpayers� money has a harmful effect on the economy and long-term financial stability. Principles: The government exists to serve the interest of all people. Government waste, or �pork,� is irresponsible and takes taxpayers� money and uses it for unnecessary expenditures that benefit a small number of people, often limited to a small geographical area. Deficit spending is irresponsible of the government. It allows the government to spend more than the people have authorized it to spend. Bureaucracy should be cut as much as possible. Solutions: We support: 1. A "Read the Bills" act which requires that all senators and representatives to read all bills on the floor for a vote and that the President reads all passed legislation before signing it. Representative democracy is based upon the notion that our representatives know exactly how they are representing us. 2. The elimination of Federal pork-barrel legislation and wasteful spending. 3. Congressional rules ending add-ons to pending legislation which are irrelevant to the general purpose of the legislation. 4. A Constitutional amendment requiring an annually balanced budget. Congress would be authorized to borrow money during a crisis for a finite period of time with 2/3 approval of both chambers of Congress and the approval of the President. D.) LABOR Issues: Government interference in the employer/employee relationship has imposed undue burdens on our economy, destroying the rights of both to contract in the free market. Principles: We support the right of free persons to voluntarily establish, associate in, or not associate in, labor unions. An employer should have the right to recognize, or refuse to recognize, a union as the collective bargaining agent of some, or all, of its employees. Solutions: We support: 1. Ending government interference in bargaining, such as compulsory arbitration or the imposition of an obligation to bargain. Therefore, we urge repeal of the National Labor Relations Act, and all state right-to-work laws which prohibit employers from making voluntary contracts with unions. 2. Ending the practice of government back-to-work orders, which impse a form of forced labor. 3. The right of workers and employers to strike or organize boycotts if they so choose. Nevertheless, boycotts or strikes do not justify the initiation of violence against other workers, employers, strike-breakers and innocent bystanders. No person may use force to compel others to strike or boycott against their own will. E.) CONSUMER PROTECTION Issues: In order to preserve a free, fair and competitive market, government must have power to prevent consumer fraud. In order to preserve individual rights against loss of life or health, government must have power to regulate products or services which pose a direct and immediate threat to individuals. Existing consumer protection laws go beyond this. Citizens should be free to choose to buy dangerous goods and services, provided that all dangers are disclosed beforehand and that only the consenting buyer is at risk. Principles: Free and informed individuals should be free to trade as they wish in whatever they wish. However, no individual has the right to defraud others by misrepresenting a good or service. Nor does any individual have the right to market a product which endangers or harms those who have not chosen to purchase it or who have not been informed of the dangers involved. Solutions: We support: 1. Laws which regulate commerce for the direct and narrow purposes of preventing fraud or negligent harm to innocents. These laws and regulations must either address the misrepresentation of a product through act of commission or omission, or else address the general danger to those who have not consented to consume the good or service in question. In addition, these laws must be demonstrably effective for these causes once implemented. All consumer protection laws which do not meet these tests should be repealed as an unjust restriction on the free market. 2. A system of clear legal remedies for consumers who used products based upon fraudulent and/or undisclosed product information and incurred real damages as a result. SECTION III. DOMESTIC ISSUES A.) ENERGY Issues: Government has a duty to establish a free market for energy production and distribution while prosecuting those who poison people through pollution. Unfortunately government has neglected these duties. Instead it establishes policies that inhibit development of alternative energy sources, favoring establishment energy corporations over companies with new and innovative solutions. Excessive regulations hurt research and prevent new innovators from bringing alternative energy solutions to the market. Principles: A free market cannot exist where prices are fixed, access to markets is restricted or prohibited, or where companies can buy political influence to crush competition. Excessive government regulations also inhibit development of new energy sources and supply systems. The free market and alternative energy research must be allowed an environment for innovation and competition if we want energy security, low costs of energy and a safe environment for tomorrow. Solutions: We support 1. An end to corporate welfare including subsidies to energy companies. 2. Opening access to energy infrastructure such as power lines, especially infrastructure using rights-of-way acquired through eminent domain, to all energy providers without favor. 3. Seeking the greatest energy efficiency possible in government operations, including the exploration of alternative energy sources to supply their needs. B.) THE ENVIRONMENT Issues: The environment is the world in which we live, and we want to ensure that it remains clean and safe for future generations. Pollution and environmental degradation not only damages individual property rights, but affects everyone by harming the land, the air, the water and the related natural resources. While the government could be a force for good by establishing a system of strong judicial accountability for polluters and encouraging a free market to thrive and create innovative environmental and sustainable solutions, the government and its agencies have mostly exacerbated the problems. The Federal government is the US�s largest polluter, and often exempts itself from its own environmental laws, reducing accountability for its actions. It also often practices preferential treatment through exemptions to polluting corporations both nationally and internationally. Conversely, it has implemented excessive, pre-emptive and burdensome environmental regulations, codes and fines which disproportionately hurt individuals and small businesses and have stifled innovation in the private sector. Principles: Environmental protection can be better achieved through a consistent and strong policy of judicial accountability for polluters, user taxes on pollutants and waste disposal, redeemable purchase deposits for future waste and recyclables and free market innovation. Pre-emptive and burdensome government regulations should be limited, as they primarily hurt individuals and small businesses. Solutions: We support: 1. Establishing strong judicial accountability for polluters, including criminal charges and monetary compensation to those incurring damage from the pollution. 2. Ending the inconsistent policies where government and favored corporations are granted exemptions from pollution laws. 3. Basic damage assessment fees and pollution taxes, like the carbon tax, which link the social and environmental costs of pollution to the users 4. Deposit fees for future waste products (such as tires, batteries, motor oil and recyclables) which may be redeemed through proper disposal. This reduces pollution and taxes polluters, as those who improperly dispose materials do not redeem their deposit, and those who clean up the materials do. 5. Cutting excessive, �one-size-fits-all� environmental regulations that hurt small businesses and individuals who often can not afford to meet all the requirements. 6. Ending government restrictions on market research and innovation of sustainable technologies and alternative energy sources and thus fostering a creative, responsible and sustainable free market. C.) EDUCATION Issues: The public school system is generally unaccountable, imbalanced and inefficient. Students are trapped in failing public schools. Our current system generally restricts students to only the public school in the specific tax district where they live. This system creates an imbalance where students are stuck in failing public schools and cannot opt out of them, thus reducing accountability for such schools. This also contributes to the disproportionately low educational quality in districts with higher populations of low income residents, further perpetuating the cycle of poverty. Education is where the cycle begins, but also provides a door for it to end. Ever since the Federal Government has gotten involved in education, we have seen our educational ratings crumble. Washington bureaucrats now control everything from the funding down to the course materials. Principles: We believe parents should be able choose the best education possible for their children. We support a system where parents can pull their children out of failing public schools and put them in succeeding ones. Public education should not be run by politically motivated Washington bureaucrats. Localized, choice-oriented educational solutions have been proven to improve accountability, quality and efficiency. As the freedom of expression is crucial to the educational process, we oppose any censorship of non-threatening, non-coercive and non-disruptive individual expression, including speech and religion in schools. Solutions: We advocate: 1. Public school choice solutions. In making public schools compete for students, we encourage a formula for success and naturally hold failing schools accountable. In enabling the poor a way out of failing public schools, we can stop the cycle of poverty at its root. 2. The immediate repeal of No Child Left Behind and any attempts of the Federal government to interfere with the governance and curriculum of our schools. 3. Tax credits for child care, preschool and private schooled / home schooled students. Parents who choose to home school their children or to send their children to private schools should be able to receive tax credits for tuition and other expenditures related to their children�s education. We also support tax credits for the costs of childcare and preschool. 4. Freedom of expression and religion in schools. Non-coercive, student-initiated prayer must always be allowed. However, we oppose abusing public school power for the purpose of religious indoctrination. 5. The elimination of mandatory federal testing, which compromises the self-determinacy of schools and homogenizes our education into a �one-size-fits-all� mentality. D.) HEALTH CARE Issues: US health care is a difficult, convoluted mess. While Medicare and Medicaid are well intentioned, they are collapsing under the weight of their own bureaucracy while not addressing the needs to be met. Health insurance rates, the cost of treatment and prescription drug prices are high because there is extensive government-backed price fixing and little competition for lower price and higher quality. Excessive regulations reduce patient choices and options, limiting alternative solutions and flexible pricing. For this reason, the income distribution of healthcare is inequitable, with the poor often being priced out of necessary treatment and procedures. New prescription drugs take years to pass through the Federal approval bureaucracy. Preventative healthcare is not emphasized. Principles: Competition is the best means to reduce the costs of healthcare to consumers. Competition can be created by reducing government control over the medical providers and insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Bureaucracy, regulation and paperwork can be also reduced and simplified in order to cut the burdensome costs and to streamline the healthcare process. Emphasizing preventative and holistic approaches to health and medicine can cut the long-term costs of healthcare and the need for healthcare. Healthcare providers, insurance agencies and pharmaceutical companies should be held liable for negligence and fraud and pay just compensation; however, excessive judicial payouts only drive up the costs for the whole market. Vouchers for healthcare for the poor and tax credits should replace expensive and bureaucratic government programs. We oppose nationalized healthcare, as it would most likely expand and intensify the problems of our current government healthcare bureaucracy turn into an expensive, inefficient, failing and inequitably implemented behemoth which would be a nightmare to reform and nearly impossible to repeal or replace. Solutions: We support: 1. Cutting the bureaucracy and overregulation that makes public health care an impenetrable, expensive and wasteful mess and compromises the ability for patients to seek care and doctors to provide it. 2. Healthcare vouchers for the poor as a replacement for failing public healthcare programs. 3. Deregulating the medical, insurance and pharmaceutical agencies in a manner that would increase market competition, driving down pricing and increasing quality, while simultaneously preventing fraud, negligence or non-disclosure. 4. Streamlining the process for the approval of new drugs. Sick patients should be able to access all test medicines submitted to the FDA before they are approved � patients should be able to choose to take on that risk. 5. Immediately removing the Medicare and Medicaid limits that do not allow doctors to voluntarily provide service to program participants at less than the mandated costs. 6. Programs that encourage preventative and holistic healthcare among voucher recipients and within public schools, in order to reduce the overall burden on public healthcare and the long-term need for healthcare. 7. The success of private sector solutions to the high costs of medical insurance, including health savings accounts, tax credits for businesses that provide health care coverage, healthcare charities and health co-ops. E.) SOCIAL SECURITY Issues: Government has taken responsibility from individuals for saving for retirement and given it to government and corporate bureaucracies. While this has provided some benefit to the unfortunate and the irresponsible, this has also caused myriad ills. In particular: * Workers are forced to �invest� in a pyramid scheme called Social Security. As this scheme collapses, it threatens to bankrupt the federal government when the baby-boomers retire. * The tax code penalizes flexible choices in personal savings, instead favoring investments in approved plans managed by employers, such as 401(k) plans and pensions. This gives employers undue power over workers and funnels capital to larger enterprises over small businesses. Principles: Power and responsibility go together. By returning responsibility for retirement to individual workers, they can have far more power over their own lives and over the economy as a whole. Solutions: We support: 1. The incremental phase-out of Social Security. Workers should given more power over their retirement. Those nearing retirement age and those already retired should be given Social Security payouts as promised. The younger generation should be taken off Social Security entirely. 2. Paying down the national debt now, before the baby-boomers retire. This can be done by cutting unneeded and excessive federal spending and selling excess assets to the private market. 3. Immediately replacing payroll taxes for government retirement plans with the FairTax. This provides workers with an automatic tax deduction for saving without the government or employer specifying how such savings should be invested, while enabling low income workers to keep even more money with a tax rebate. 4. An end to the special tax status of savings plans through employers vs. worker controlled savings. F.) ELECTION REFORM Issues: The United States electoral system is seriously flawed and requires major reform. State legislatures have established gerrymandered districts and enacted restrictive laws that effectively exclude alternative candidates and parties from election ballots. Small political parties and independent candidates are forced to spend much of their time and resources just to attain ballot access, creating hurdles to fair competition. Various laws enable the federal and state governments to control the elections of their own administrators and beneficiaries, thereby further reducing accountability to citizens. Principles: Elections at all levels should be in the control of those who wish to participate in or support them voluntarily. As private voluntary groups, political parties should be allowed to establish their own rules for nomination procedures, primaries and conventions. No state should have any interest in this area that extends beyond the protection of the fair and efficient conduct of elections. Solutions: We support: 1. Electoral systems that allow fair access and greater choice in all elections at the federal, state and local levels. Voters should be able to submit their own choices. 2. Eliminating overburdening and unfair ballot access restrictions. While some minimal restrictions are justified in order to maintain a reasonable ballot length, currently it is very difficult for independents and candidates for political parties outside the Republicans and Democrats to attain ballot access � even those with widespread support. 3. Ending government favoritism towards any political party and banning the allocation of tax dollars and government resources for any campaigning purposes. 4. Repealing the Federal Election Campaign Act and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which suppress voluntary support of candidates and parties. 5. Ending all restrictions on how parties choose their candidates. 6. Requiring that electronic voting systems must use a voter verified paper ballot as the ballot of count, recount, audit and record in order to avoid fraud and manipulation. G.) CONGRESSIONAL PAY AND TERM LIMITS Issues: Congress determines its own salary and benefits, without accountability to the US people. Furthermore, Congressional membership is usually stagnant and disconnected from the will of the people. Principles: The Framers designed the Congress to represent the people through a regular influx of new ideas. Government stagnates and disconnects from the will of the people without Congressional turnover. Solutions: We support: 1. The passage of a Constitutional amendment limiting the tenure of representatives to three consecutive terms and Senators to two consecutive terms. After one full term length off, he or she will be eligible to run again. 2. The passage of a Constitutional amendment tying the salary of Congresspeople to the average American salary. 3. Ending Congressional pensions. H.) SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY Issues: With the doctrine of "sovereign immunity," government has insulated itself and its employees from being held accountable for illegal and immoral actions. Individuals may not sue the government without its own permission, or hold individual government agents accountable for misbehavior if that misbehavior took place "on the job." Principles: The only valid claim to legitimacy which government can make is that it acts on behalf of the people. The people of the United States, in turn, have delegated very narrow and constrained powers to government to act on their behalf through the Constitution. The doctrine of "sovereign immunity," when invoked, voids the legitimacy of government itself by disconnecting its actions from those constitutional constraints. Solutions we support: Ending artificial legal barriers that prevent civil suits or criminal prosecutions against government agencies or government employees. Government agencies and their employees must be subject to the same, or even stronger, standards of accountability as any other organizations or individuals. SECTION IV. FOREIGN AFFAIRS A.) MILITARY POLICY Issues: Since World War II, the United States has increasingly used its military as a global police force and offensive political tool instead of as a defensive mechanism, as intended by the Constitution. Geopolitics, technology and globalization have changed the nature of military. As a major global power, the US is expected to participate in spreading democracy and freedom around the world and working to ensure global safety; however, our current policies have led to widespread resentment of the US policies, the overextension and misuse of military personnel and resources, the installment of several noteworthily undemocratic and corrupt regimes, including the Taliban, the proliferation of nuclear and chemical weapons across the globe and many other problems. Principles: Except for circumstances of imminent national danger, a military policy of restraint and disclosure is best. While 9-11 proved that we cannot predict the future or propose a �one-size-always-fits� military policy, we should limit our military operations to those countries that attack or pose an imminent national security threat to the US. We should stop using the military to meddle in the internal affairs of other countries. The glaring exception would be necessary action to prevent mass genocides where no other force can reasonably prevent it. Our military should be strong, prepared and sufficiently equipped to do their job. The global proliferation of nuclear arms and chemical weapons should be reduced multilaterally, including by the US. The US should emphasize consistency and avoid double standards in the implementation of its military policy. Solutions: We support: 1. A responsible and consistent military and diplomatic policy that is able to prevent or respond to attacks and national security threats. We advocate the Constitutional orientation of the military as a primarily defensive mechanism instead of a primarily offensive mechanism by ending involvement in the internal affairs of other countries, reducing the overextension of our troops through strategic placement to respond to attacks and threats, and using diplomacy where possible to avoid the necessity of military action. 2. Avoiding or ending mass genocide. 3. Sufficient funding, resources and supplies for military personnel to remain prepared to carry out their jobs in the most effective manner possible. 4. Multilateral agreements and diplomacy to reduce chemical and nuclear weapons and the proliferation of these weapons in the US and around the world, including arms reduction agreements and agreements not to sell or distribute nuclear or chemical weapons, technology or research to any other country. B.) PRESIDENTIAL WAR POWEERS The Issue: Recent Presidents have—on their own through declarations of "states of emergency" and with the assistance of Congress via the War Powers Act—expanded the role of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to assume the power to wage limited (and not-so-limited) war without a constitutionally explicit mandated declaration of war by Congress. These wars often occur in secret, funded and/or operated by the CIA, NSA, and other agencies not directly accountable to the People. The Principle: The role of Commander-in-Chief, correctly understood, confers no additional authority on the President. Solutions: We support: 1. Reforming the Presidential War Powers Act to end the President's power to initiate military action, and the abrogation of all Presidential declarations of "states of emergency." 2. Ending the secret commitments and unilateral acts of military intervention by the Executive Branch. 3. A Constitutional amendment limiting the presidential role as Commander-in-Chief to its original meaning, namely that of the head of the armed forces in wartime. C.) WORLD GOVERNMENT Issues: The United Nations and other world tribunals were established to prevent wars and to settle disputes between nations. They have failed miserably; instead they focus their efforts on establishing greater control of the internal affairs of member states, including the United States of America. Many of these efforts pose a direct threat to the freedom of American citizens. Principles: Government exists to protect the freedom of its citizens. Government must be accountable to those citizens, lest it become a threat to freedom itself. Any government which takes away freedom and which is not accountable to any citizen must be reformed or removed. Solutions: We support 1. Restoring the United Nations to its initial purpose—the negotiation of international disputes. The United Nations must not be granted power to interfere in the internal operations of any nation, or to determine what rights people in those nations do or do not have. 2. Refusal to ratify all treaties and United Nations acts which would dictate internal policy. If the United Nations persists, the United States should withhold dues, donations, and material support for that body. If all else fails, and if the United Nations is not able to be reformed, the last resort is to leave that body and form a new international treaty organization with powers specifically restricted to diplomacy to provide mutual defense against international aggression and prevent the global proliferation of nuclear weapons. D.) FOREIGN AID Issues: The federal government has used foreign aid as a tool of influencing the policy of other sovereign nations under the guise of aiding needy people in those nations. This forces American taxpayers to subsidize governments and policies of which they may not approve. Aid often perpetuates problems in aid-receiving countries by funding corrupt regimes, replacing self-sufficiency with dependency on the US, and crippling markets and infrastructures in aid-receiving countries. Principles: Individuals should not be coerced via taxes into funding a foreign nation or group. All foreign aid should be voluntarily funded by individuals or private organizations. Only in the event of a dire humanitarian crisis which directly affects the United States and its people and which the free market can not provide sufficient support should any foreign aid even be considered. In such circumstances, US tax dollars must not be entrusted to foreign governments and must be used to provide immediate, short-term and direct survival aid to the people in need. War reparations to civilians and rebuilding infrastructure post-war is not �foreign aid� in the conventional sense, as they are compensation for the damage and destruction resulting from our military policy. This decision must be made on a situational basis (for example, if the war was initiated by the United States.) Solutions: We support: 1. Eliminating all tax-supported military, economic, political, technical and scientific aid to foreign governments or other organizations. 2. Abolishing government underwriting of arms sales. 3. Abolishing all federal agencies that make American taxpayers guarantors of export-related loans, such as the Export-Import Bank and the Commodity Credit Corporation. 4. Ending the participation of the U.S. government in international commodity circles that restrict production, limit technological innovation and raise prices. 5. Repealing all prohibitions on individuals or firms contributing or selling goods and services to any foreign country or organization, unless such provision constitutes a direct threat to the people of the United States. 6. Foreign humanitarian survival aid only in rare circumstances of a crisis directly affecting the US and its people, with strict guidelines regarding accountability, measures of effectiveness, and specific, direct facilitation procedure. 7. Rebuilding basic infrastructure and paying just reparations to civilians in foreign countries whose lives and property have been damaged by offensive or excessive US military actions. SECTION V. OMISSIONS Our silence about any other particular government law, regulation, ordinance, directive, edict, control, regulatory agency, activity, or machination should not be construed to imply approval. We entrust our elected National Executive Committee to represent the party on relevant issues and interim solutions where the platform is silent. Such representation must adhere to the Statement of Principles and the general spirit of the party and its platform. Author's Comments This is the first draft of a proposed final platform for the Libertarian Reform Caucus. I hope you find it to be a superior document to the current platform. It includes a compilation of the most popular proposals on this site and the most popular planks in the current platform (with some mostly minor additions, subtractions and changes, including elements mentioned in the comments sections of each proposed plank), along with several planks I added (environment, military policy, health care and immigration) where there were no popular solutions. The document is almost exactly half the length and word count of the current platform! I left off the issues that solid majorities voted to leave out. However, I do feel there are some gaping holes because of this, especially regarding human rights, agriculture and transportation - please consider if you really want these left out. The goal is to turn this into a document that we can all add input and make corrections to. However, we do not have much time before the Convention, and thus any major changes and new proposals should be made before June arrives. In about a week, I want to submit the whole thing to the Platform Committee for consideration. If it is rejected by the committee, we should finish and hone the document as much as possible pre-convention, widely distribute it and submit it for a floor vote at the NatCon. Anyway, hope you like it and find it to be an immense improvement. Please critically look over the planks I added, as well as the big addition made to the current Omissions section and tell me what you think. I am all ears to make changes if I get enough response. Also leave a comment for any typos - I'm sure they're there. Have spent many hours working on it. Thanks for reading! :''29 Comments WERE POSTED WHEN THIS WAS HARVESTED, June 4, 2006 category:Planks_from_elsewhere